Former Green Party MP and foreign affairs spokesperson Keith Locke . . . While in Parliament, he was a notable critic of New Zealand's involvement in the war in Afghanistan and the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002, and advocated for refugee rights including in the case of Ahmed Zaoui. Image: RNZ/Green Party
“He will be greatly missed by his partner Michele, his family, friends and colleagues. He kept up his interest and support for the causes he was passionate about to the last.
“He was a man of integrity, courage and kindness who lived his values in every part of his life. He touched many lives in the course of his work in politics and activism.”
The son of activists Elsie and Jack Locke of Christchurch, Keith was politically aware from an early age, and was involved in the first anti-nuclear and anti-apartheid marches of the 1960s.
After a Masters degree at the University of Alberta in Canada, he returned to New Zealand and left academia to edit a fortnightly newspaper for the Socialist Action League, a union he had joined as a meatworker then railway workshop employee.
He joined NewLabour in 1989, which later became part of the Alliance party, and split off into the Greens when they broke apart from the Alliance in 1997, entering Parliament as their foreign affairs spokesperson in the subsequent election two years later.
Notable critic of NZ in Afghanistan
While in Parliament, he was a notable critic of New Zealand’s involvement in the war in Afghanistan and the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002, and advocated for refugee rights including in the case of Ahmed Zaoui.
He also long advocated for New Zealand to become a republic, putting forward a member’s bill which would have led to a referendum on the matter.
Commentators dubbed him variously the ‘Backbencher of the Year’ in 2002 — an award he reprised from a different outlet in 2010 — as well as the ‘Politician of the Year’ in 2003, and ‘Conscience of the Year’ in 2004.
He was appointed a Member of the NZ Order of Merit for services to human rights advocacy in 2021, received NZ Amnesty International’s Human Rights Defender award in 2012, and the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand’s Harmony Award in 2013.
In a statement today, Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick said Locke was a dear friend and leading figure in the party’s history, who never wavered in holding government and those in positions of authority to account.
“As a colleague and friend, Keith will be keenly missed by the Greens. He has been a shining light for the rights of people and planet. Keith Locke leaves a legacy that his family and all who knew him can be proud of. Moe mai ra e te rangatira,” they said.
“From 1999 to 2011, he served our party with distinction and worked extremely hard to advance causes central to our kaupapa,” they said.
Highlighting ‘human rights crises’
“Not only did Keith work to defend civil liberties at home, but he was vigilant in highlighting human rights crises in other countries, including the Philippines, East Timor, West Papua and in Latin America.
“We particularly acknowledge his strong and clear opposition to the Iraq War, and his commitment to an independent and principled foreign policy for Aotearoa.”
They said his mahi as a fearless defender of civil liberties was exemplified in his efforts to challenge government overreach into citizens’ privacy.
“Keith worked very hard to introduce reforms of our country’s security intelligence services. While there is much more to be done, the improvements in transparency that have occurred over the past two decades are in large part due to his advocacy and work. We will honour him by ensuring we carry on such work.”
Former minister Peter Dunne said on social media he was “very saddened” to learn of Locke’s death.
“Although we were on different ideological planets, we always got on and worked well together on a number of issues. Keith had my enduring respect for his integrity and honesty. Rest in peace, friend.”
‘Profoundly saddened’
Auckland councillor Christine Fletcher said she was also sad to hear of the death of her “Mt Eden neighbour”.
“We worked together on several political campaigns in the 1990s. Keith was a thoughtful, sincere and truly decent person. My condolences to Keith’s partner Michele, sister Maire Leadbeater and partner Graeme East.”
Peace Action Wellington said Locke was a tireless activist for peace and justice — and the organisation was “profoundly saddened” by his death.
“His voice and presence will be missed,” the organisation wrote on social media.
“He was fearless. He spoke with the passion of someone who knows all too well the vast and dangerous reach of the state into people’s lives as someone who was under state surveillance from the time he was a child.
“We acknowledge Keith’s amazing whānau who have a long whakapapa of peace and justice activism. He was a good soul who will be missed.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Vale #KeithLocke, tireless and fearless campaigner for peace, justice and a sustainable future for a green planet … I’ll also remember him for friendship and commitment to independent truth publishing and OneWorld progressive bookshop. – @DavidRobie, editor, #AsiaPacificReportpic.twitter.com/SC0obJzfOA
A pro-Palestinian advocacy group has put the New Zealand government “on notice” over its alleged complicity with Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza now in its eighth month.
The PSNA said in the letter that “with the support of the Palestinian community,
human rights advocates, and community organisations, [we] hereby raise our concerns as to Aotearoa’s breaches of international law in relation to the unfolding situation in Gaza, as well as the individual criminal liability which may attach to New Zealand Government Ministers, Members of Parliament and other officials for aiding and abetting international crimes committed by Israel, including genocide, pursuant to the Rome Statute.
“This letter hereby puts you on notice for any relevant breach of the New Zealand domestic law or international law.”
PSNA’S National chair John Minto said that “in writing this letter to you, we have engaged the assistance of several legal experts, students, academics, and human rights advocates.”
In a separate explanatory statement, Minto said the letter of demand “signals our intent with the support of members of the Palestinian community to pursue legal accountability for the lack of actions taken by the government, and key government ministers, in their roles.
“PSNA is deeply concerned about New Zealand failing to uphold our legal responsibilities under the Genocide Convention which requires the government to take actions that ‘prevent and punish the crime of genocide’.”
The letter was addressed to nine cabinet ministers, including Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
The other ministers are Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters, Attorney-General Judith Collins, Immigration Minister Erica Standford, Regulation Minister David Seymour, Trade Minister and Associate Foreign Affairs Minister Todd McClay, Minister for Women Nicola Grigg, Associate Minister of Immigration Casey Costello, and Associate Minister of Defence Chris Penk.
‘We have never seen anything like this’: UN Commission of Inquiry head Video: Al Jazeera
NZ’s obligations
The letter stated that New Zealand’s obligations under international law were:
Its responsibility under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention) to prevent and to punish the ongoing genocide in Gaza;
Its obligation pursuant to the Geneva Conventions to ensure respect for international humanitarian law; and
Its obligations under customary international law to cooperate with other states to bring an end Israel’s ongoing serious breaches of peremptory norms, and to refrain from aiding or assisting Israel in those breaches.
Alleged breaches
The PSNA letter alleged the following breaches of international law:
The opening page of the PSNA “letter of “intent” to the New Zealand government dated 20 June 2024. Image: Screenshot
Potential failure to prevent the export of military components for use in weaponry by Israel. Specifically, failure to adequately regulate Rakon Limited (a company based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland) regarding the export of components to the United States for use in military equipment, which may be being used in Israel’s genocide;
Sending New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel to train alongside Israel Defence Forces during the US-led Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) military exercises beginning on 26 June 2024;
Sending NZDF personnel to assist in United States and United Kingdom-led military operations against the Houthis in Yemen, with the effect of suppressing regional protest against Israel’s genocide in Gaza;
Withholding approval for funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA);
Failure to provide humanitarian visas to Palestinians in Gaza who have family members in Aotearoa (by contrast with the 2022 Special Ukraine Visa for Ukrainians fleeing from war);
Failure to take any measures of retortion against Israel, such as expelling diplomats or suspending diplomatic relations;
Continuing to allow shipping company ZIM to use New Zealand ports;
Failure to suspend the Israel Working Holiday Visa for Israeli citizens who have served with the Israel Defence Forces carrying out international crimes;
Relatedly, failure to implement a ban on investments in, and imports from, companies building and maintaining illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in line with UN Security Council resolution 2334 (UNSC2334 was co-sponsored at the UN Security Council by New Zealand in 2016); and
Failure to engage with proceedings in the genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and failing to denounce Israel’s breaches of ICJ rulings, most notably by illegally continuing its military assault on Rafah.
Minto concluded the detailed 39-page letter including supporting appendices by saying, “It is not too late for Aotearoa to hold Israel to account and to help bring an end to its impunity, and its atrocities.
“New Zealand must defend the international rule of law. We may rely upon it ourselves one day.”
PSNA plans to take further steps if it fails to get a “meaningful response” from the government and the relevant ministers by 18 July 2024.
Former journalist and "media minder" of the 2000 coup Joe Nata . . . an "unwelcome blast from the past", says writer Graham Davis. Image: Grubsheet/FT
COMMENTARY: By Graham Davis
The Fiji Times totally crossed the line today by using a convicted felon who took part in the 2000 coup to call for the release of the coup frontman George Speight.
Journalist Josefa Nata spent 23 years in prison for his part in the rebellion. He has served his time and deserves his freedom.
But he does not deserve to have the front page of Fiji’s traditional newspaper of record for any reason at all short of naming the shadowy figures behind the rebellion or throwing new light on our understanding of what took place.
Does he do so? Not a chance. The headline says: “Nata on Coup”. Yet nowhere is there any detail of what occurred 24 years ago.
So why would The Fiji Times give him the front page for his pedestrian musings on how his “time in jail has helped him to realise his wrongdoings”? The answer is revealed on page 2 – Joe Nata’s call for his fellow conspirator, George Speight, to be released from prison.
He reveals that he has already had discussions with the ousted attorney-general, Siromi Turaga, and the Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, to press Speight’s case. And now he wants to meet the Commander of the RFMF, Major General Ro Jone Kalouniwai, to try to persuade him that the 2000 coup leader has done his time.
Until now, General Kalouniwai has insisted that Speight cannot be released without it being a threat to national security. The RFMF Commander has given undertakings to his fellow officers that he will not countenance Speight being set free.
And Grubsheet understands that he has conveyed that position to the government through the Home Affairs Minister, Pio Tikoduadua.
Legalities clear
The legal position is clear. George Speight was the last person to be sentenced to death in Fiji. In 2002, he wept as High Court judge Justice Michael Scott donned a black cap over his horse-hair wig to protect him from the eyes of God and pronounced that for his treason against the state, Speight should “hang from the neck until dead”.
He then used the famous accompanying words: “And may God have mercy on your soul”.
Soon afterwards, Speight’s death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. That was a pardon in itself. So axiomatically George Speight cannot be pardoned again by being released with the other 2000 conspirators who were sentenced to long terms in jail.
The Mercy Commission instigated by Siromi Turaga at the urging of the nationalist hardliners in the Coalition may have released Joe Nata and most notably so far, the Qaranivalu, Ratu Inoke Takiveikata, who instigated the mutiny in the RFMF in November 2000. But it cannot release George Speight.
Having been sentenced to death and having had that sentence commuted to life imprisonment, life means life for George. It is the law and for the Coalition to make an exception for the man who brought Fiji to its knees in 2000 would open a pandora’s box filled to the brim with a great many imponderables. Foremost of these would be the potential threat to national security.
George Speight isn’t some doddering and harmless old man but a super-fit and charismatic figure who is said to still command a great deal of authority in Naboro Prison. Those who have met him in recent years say he retains the strut and cockiness of the man who shot to global infamy by removing the former prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, at gunpoint and holding the nation’s MPs hostage in the parliamentary complex for 56 days.
He is also said to be unrepentant about what he did and remains a hard-line indigenous supremacist. And there is clear evidence that he doesn’t regard himself as being bound by the normal strictures of what constitutes appropriate behaviour for most people.
Great deal of upheaval
A well-meaning New Zealand couple I know who shall remain nameless went to visit George Speight in Naboro a few years ago thinking they could help him. But George’s idea of help was to ask whether he could have sex with the woman with her husband’s consent.
So his virility isn’t in question. Neither is his potential to cause a great deal of upheaval in Fiji.
The Fiji Times front page today . . . “Nata on coup”. Image: Grubsheet/FT
So why is The Fiji Times actively, albeit indirectly, advocating for his release? Because it is evidently a mouthpiece for those elements in the Coalition who want to complete the agenda Sitiveni Rabuka and George Speight shared of entrenching iTaukei supremacy by any means, including their coups of 1987 and 2000.
Now that Sitiveni Rabuka has been restored to power, these elements now want George Speight freed. The difference is that Rabuka wasn’t sentenced to death for his treason. George Speight was.
It is the height of journalistic irresponsibility for The Fiji Times to provide a public soapbox for a criminal like Joe Nata to agitate for a course of action that is not only contrary to the law but has the potential to trigger all sorts of consequences that are contrary to the national interest.
There is already enough instability in Fiji right now without throwing fuel on the fire. And the Commander of the RFMF must be persuaded to hold the line against any attempt to free George Speight.
This is not ancient history. Indeed the man Speight removed at gunpoint, Mahendra Chaudhry, is still with us, still leads the Fiji Labour Party and still intends to contest the next election. He should be able to do so without the malignant presence of his tormentor.
Because far from intending to disappear quietly into the shadows in the event of his release, George Speight is evidently intent on a political comeback. And that must not be allowed to happen.
Fiji-born to missionary parents and a dual Fijian-Australian national, Graham Davis is an award-winning investigative journalist turned communications consultant who was the Fiji government’s principal communications advisor for six years from 2012 to 2018 and continued to work on Fiji’s global climate and oceans campaign up until the end of the decade. Republished from Grubsheet with permission.
Coup frontman George Speight (centre in tie). . . tearful after being handed his death sentence (later commuted to life in prison). Image: www.grubsheet.com.au
Palestinian lawyer and advocate Diana Buttu . . . "You could see from the 1990s, even up until 2006, that there wasn't free access or free flow of people or of goods into the Gaza Strip. To the contrary, Israel was controlling all aspects of that." Image: Freedom Flotilla Coalition screenshot Café Pacific
An international lawyer and former spokesperson for the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Diana Buttu, says it is a myth that the siege on Gaza began in 2006/2007.
She has explained in a Gaza Freedom Flotilla video released on YouTube that Israel’s control and closure on Gaza started decades earlier.
The Israeli military closed Gaza off from the world, continuously ignoring international law and diplomatic efforts to end the blockade, making this current genocide possible, said Buttu, a Palestinian-Canadian.
Geneva Convention 1949 . . . “Instead, what Israel has done is create a system of blockade and closure,” says lawyer Diana Buttu. Image: Freedom Flotilla screen shot APR
Buttu argued that this made global efforts to break the siege on Gaza — foremost among them, the Freedom Flotilla—all the more imperative.
“Look, the Israeli logic when it comes to Palestinians, is that what won’t be learned with force, will only be learned with more force.” she said.
“One of the most important things right now is to break that siege and break that blockade”.
Israel ‘could turn off the tap’
She also said: “The reason why they [Israel] could turn off the tap, so to speak, was because of the fact that they had been maintaining such a brutal siege and blockade on the Gaza Strip.
“Add that together, and you can see that the impact and the intent is genocide.’
Kia Ora Gaza is the Aotearoa New Zealand affiliated member of the international Freedom Flotilla collective and several Kiwi participants re taking part.
Auckland activists Youssef Sammour and Rana Hamida being farewelled at Auckland International Airport on the first stage of their protest waka last Sunday. Image: Rana Hamida/Freedom Flotilla
“Currently about to head to the airport to take the last flight to La Rochelle, France, where we will be joining the Freedom Flotilla Coalition ship Handala.
“Please share and keep an eye on the waka.
“The more you are courageous to follow up and open your eyes — the safer the mission is.
“A mission guided by love to all human beings.
“Guided by the deep knowing of the equally vital solidarity with those the most in need of it.
“Acknowledge your role — it’s time.
“More updates as we go.”
Republished in collaboration with Kia Ora Gaza.
Diana Buttu on the Biggest Myth About Israel’s Siege of Gaza. Video: Freedom Flotilla
Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths of Plains FM96.9 radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region.
Dr Robie has just been made a Member of the NZ Order of Merit (MNZM) and Earthwise ask him what this means to him. Why has he campaigned for so long for Pacific issues to receive media attention?
Do Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia really feel like part of the Pacific world? What are the growing concerns about increasing militarisation in the Pacific and spreading Chinese influence?
And why is decolonisation in Kanaky New Caledonia from France such a pressing issue? Dr Robie also draws parallels between the Kanak, Palestinian and West Papuan struggles.
Interviewee: Dr David Robie, deputy chair of the Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN) and a semiretired professor of Pacific journalism. He founded the Pacific Media Centre.
Interviewers: Lois and Martin Griffiths, Earthwise programme
New Zealand activists Youssef Sammour and Rana Hamida have been selected to join the volunteer crew on the international Freedom Flotilla ship Handala, currently visiting European ports and heading to break Israel’s siege of Gaza.
Youssef Sammour at a recent Auckland rally for Palestine. Image: Kia Ora Gaza
They will be farewelled at 10:30am upstairs at the Auckland International Airport today, reports Kia Ora Gaza.
Trevor Hogan, a former Irish rugby champion and pro-Palestinian activist who participated in several flotillas that were water cannoned and pirated by the Israeli military in the past, has sent a special message to the volunteers and those supporting the freedom missions in “a time of great, unquantifiable grief”.
“While our Handala has just left the Irish port of Cobh and we continue to work on reflagging the flotilla ships stuck in Istanbul, the decades of solidarity from Ireland remains palpable, unwavering and tremendously significant for Palestinians and the wider diaspora,” said Kia Ora Gaza.
“This is a reminder to everyone watching: on those dark days, take time to regroup, regather, and come back again. Until Palestine is free.”
Trevor Hogan’s message to the world in support of Palestine. Video: Freedom Flotila Coalition
Concerns raised over US ‘floating pier’
Meanwhile, Ahmed Omar in Monoweiss reports that in March 2024, US President Joe Biden announced in his State of the Union address that the US would be building a temporary “floating pier” on the Gaza shoreline to deliver “humanitarian aid” to the starving population in Gaza.
“No US boots will be on the ground,” he promised.
Since then, however, critics have raised concerns that the pier is not only being used for “humanitarian” purposes but is being employed for military activities that aid in the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza.
An intelligence source from within the resistance in Gaza, who spoke to Mondoweiss under conditions of anonymity, said there were mounting signs the US pier could also be used to forcibly displace Palestinians.
This would provide an alternative to the original Israeli plan of forcing Palestinians into the Sinai, which was rejected by Egypt early on in the war.
“The floating pier project is an American solution to the displacement dilemma in Gaza,” the source said.
“It goes beyond both the Israeli solution of displacing Gazans into Sinai . . . and the Egyptian suggestion of displacing [Gazans] into the Naqab [desert].”
Instead, the source said, the US pier would be used to facilitate the displacement of Gazans to Cyprus, and then eventually to Lebanon or Europe.
The US pier was at the centre of coverage of the massacre, as multiple news sources, videos, and eyewitness accounts from Gaza indicated that US forces may have been involved in the operation and that humanitarian trucks entering Nuseirat were hiding the Israeli soldiers that carried out the massacre.
Since resigning from USP in 2002, Professor David Robie (right) has maintained close links with USP Journalism. He was chief guest at the 18th USP Journalism awards in 2018. Picture: Wansolwara File
By Monika Singh in Suva
New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) awardee Professor David Robie has called on young journalists to see journalism as a calling and not just a job.
Dr Robie, who is also the editor of Asia Pacific Report and deputy chair of the Asia Pacific Media Network, was named in the King’s Birthday Honours list for “services to journalism and Asia Pacific media education”.
He was named last Monday and the investiture ceremony is later this year.
The University of the South Pacific’s head of journalism Associate Professor Shailendra Singh told Wansolwara News: “David’s mountain of work in media research and development, and his dedication to media freedom, speak for themselves.
“I am one of the many Pacific journalists and researchers that he has mentored and inspired over the decades”.
Dr Singh said this recognition was richly deserved.
Dr Robie was head of journalism at USP from 1998 to 2002 before he resigned to join the Auckland University of Technology ane became an associate professor in the School of Communication Studies in 2005 and full professor in 2011.
Close links with USP
Since resigning from the Pacific university he has maintained close links with USP Journalism. He was the chief guest at the 18th USP Journalism awards in 2018.
Retired AUT professor of journalism and communication studies and founder of the Pacific Media Centre Dr David Robie. Image: Alyson Young/APMN
He has also praised USP Journalism and said it was “bounding ahead” when compared with the journalism programme at the University of Papua New Guinea, where he was the head of journalism from 1993 to 1997.
He is a keynote speaker at the 2024 Pacific International Media Conference which is being hosted by USP’s School of Pacific Arts, Communications and Education (Journalism), in collaboration with the Pacific Island News Association (PINA) and the Asia-Pacific Media Network (APMN).
The editors will be inviting a selection of the best conference papers to be considered for publication in a special edition of the PJR or its companion publication Pacific Media.
Professor David Robie and associate professor and head of USP Journalism Shailendra Singh at the 18th USP Journalism Awards. Image: Wnsolwara/File
Referring to his recognition for his contribution to journalism, Dr Robie told RNZ Pacific he was astonished and quite delighted but at the same time he felt quite humbled by it all.
‘Enormous support’
“However, I feel that it’s not just me, I owe an enormous amount to my wife, Del, who is a teacher and designer by profession, and a community activist, but she has given journalism and me enormous support over many years and kept me going through difficult times.
“There’s a whole range of people who have contributed over the years so it’s sort of like a recognition of all of us, especially all those who worked so hard for 13 years on the Pacific Media Centre when it was going. So, yes, it is a delight and I feel quite privileged.”
Reflecting on his 50 years in journalism, Dr Robie believes that the level of respect for mainstream news media has declined.
“This situation is partly through the mischievous actions of disinformation peddlers and manipulators, but it is partly our fault in media for allowing the lines between fact-based news and opinion/commentary to be severely compromised, particularly on television,” he told Wansolwara News.
‘Respect for media has declined due to disinformation, but it is partly our fault in media for allowing the lines between fact-based news and opinion to be severely compromised’: Prof Robie.https://t.co/Gad0AZN5Td
— Dr Shailendra B Singh (@ShailendraBSing) June 10, 2024
He said the recognition helped to provide another level of “mana” at a time when public trust in journalism had dropped markedly, especially since the covid-19 pandemic and the emergence of a “global cesspit of disinformation”.
Dr Robie said journalists were fighting for the relevance of media today.
“The Fourth Estate, as I knew it in the 1960s, has eroded over the last few decades. It is far more complex today with constant challenges from the social media behemoths and algorithm-driven disinformation and hate speech.”
He urged journalists to believe in the importance of journalism in their communities and societies.
‘Believe in truth to power’
“Believe in the contribution that we can make to understanding and progress. Believe in truth to power. Have courage, determination and go out and save the world with facts, compassion and rationality.”
Despite the challenges, he believes that journalism is just as vital today, even more vital perhaps, than the past.
“It is critical for our communities to know that they have information that is accurate and that they can trust. Good journalism and investigative journalism are the bulwark for an effective defence of democracy against the anarchy of digital disinformation.
“Our existential struggle is the preservation of Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa — protecting our Pacific Ocean legacy for us all.”
Dr Robie began his career with The Dominion in 1965, after part-time reporting while a trainee forester and university science student with the NZ Forest Service, and worked as an international journalist and correspondent for agencies from Johannesburg to Paris.
In addition to winning several journalism awards, he received the 1985 Media Peace Prize for his coverage of the Rainbow Warrior bombing. He was on a 11-week voyage with the bombed ship and wrote the book Eyes of Fire about French and American nuclear testing.
Professor David Robie (second from right), and USP head of journalism Associate Professor Shailendra Singh, (left) with the winners of the 18th USP Journalism Awards in 2018. Image: Wansolwara/File
Geopolitics, climate crisis and decolonisation
Dr Robie mentions geopolitics and climate crisis as two of the biggest issues for the Pacific, with the former being largely brought upon by major global players, mainly the US, Australia and China.
He said it was important for the Pacific to create its own path and not become pawns or hostages to this geopolitical rivalry, adding that it was critically important for news media to retain its independence and a critical distance.
“The latter issue, climate crisis, is one that the Pacific is facing because of its unique geography, remoteness and weather patterns. It is essential to be acting as one ‘Pacific voice’ to keep the globe on track over the urgent solutions needed for the world. The fossil fuel advocates are passé and endangering us all.
“Journalists really need to step up to the plate on seeking climate solutions.”
“In addition to many economic issues for small and remote Pacific nations, are the issues of decolonisation. The events over the past three weeks in Kanaky New Caledonia have reminded us that unresolved decolonisation issues need to be centre stage for the Pacific, not marginalised.”
According to Dr Robie concerted Pacific political pressure, and media exposure, needs to be brought to bear on both France over Kanaky New Caledonia and “French” Polynesia, or Māohi Nui, and Indonesia with West Papua.
He called on the Pacific media to step up their scrutiny and truth to power role to hold countries and governments accountable for their actions.
Monika Singhis editor-in-chief of Wansolwara, the online and print publication of the USP Journalism Programme. Published in partnership with Wansolwara.
At least 274 Palestinians were killed and more than 698 others were wounded on Saturday in the central Gaza Strip, in what Israel is celebrating as a “heroic” military operation to rescue four Israeli captives that were being held in Gaza.
Palestinian media reported intense bombardment in the early afternoon local time in various areas in the Nuseirat and Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
Video footage from the main market in the Nuseirat refugee camp showed crowds of Palestinian civilians fleeing under the sound of heavy artillery fire.
— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) June 8, 2024
Translation: A horrific scene shows the first moments of the [Israeli] occupation committing the Nuseirat massacre in the middle of the Gaza Strip.
Al Jazeera reporter Anas al-Sharif reported that Israeli forces “infiltrated” the Nuseirat refugee camp in trucks disguised as humanitarian aid trucks.
The Gaza government media office said in a statement that Israeli forces launched an “unprecedented brutal attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp” directly targeting civilians, and that ambulances and civil defence crews were unable to reach the area and evacuate the wounded due to the intensity of the bombing.
The media office added that according to its count, at least 210 Palestinians were killed and an estimated 400 others were wounded during the Israeli operation.
Video footage published on social media showed dozens of bodies of men, women and children lying in the streets in the Nuseirat area, as well as bloodied and injured civilians being rushed to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.
Hind Khoudary reports from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah. Video: Al Jazeera
‘Complete bloodbath’
Al Jazeera quoted Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan with Doctors Without Borders as saying the emergency department at Al-Aqsa Hospital “is a complete bloodbath . . . It looks like a slaughterhouse”.
“The images and videos that I’ve received show patients lying everywhere in pools of blood . . . their limbs have been blown off,” she told Al Jazeera, adding “that is what a massacre looks like.”
As the death toll from the central Gaza Strip continued to rise, Israeli reports emerged that four Israeli captives were rescued in the operation and transferred back to Israel.
The four captives were identified as Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40. They were all reportedly taken on October 7 from the Nova Music festival in southern Israel close to the Gaza border.
According to Israeli media, the four captives were found in good health, and were transferred to a hospital in Israel where they were reunited with their families. One member of the Israeli special forces was killed during the attack.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz cited Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari as saying the captives were “rescued under fire, and that during the operation the IDF [Israeli Defence Force] attacked from the air, sea, and land in the Nuseirat and Deir al-Balah areas in the center of the Gaza Strip.”
Haaretz added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant approved the operation on Thursday evening. Netanyahu hailed the operation as “successful,” while Gallant reportedly described it as “one of the most heroic operations he had seen in all his years in the defence establishment”, according to Israeli media.
Families praised military
The families of Israeli captives held a press conference on Saturday afternoon in reaction to the news. Relatives of the four captives rescued on Saturday praised both the Israeli military and the government.
Some relatives of the remaining captives still being held in Gaza demanded an end to the war and a prisoner exchange in order to secure the release of those still being held in Gaza.
On Saturday evening local time, spokesman for the Qassam Brigades Abu Obeida said “the first to be harmed by [the Israeli army] are its prisoners”, saying that while some of the captives were freed in the operation, a number of other Israeli captives were reportedly killed.
The Israeli government and military have not commented on the reports that Israeli captives were killed in the operation.
It is reported that there are 120 captives still held in the Gaza Strip, including 43 who have been killed since October, many reportedly by Israel’s own forces.
On its official Telegram channel, Hamas said the release of the four captives “will not change the Israeli army’s strategic failure in the Gaza Strip” and that “the resistance is still holding a larger number of captives and can increase it.”
Reports of US involvement in Nuseirat massacre As news flooded on the scale of the massacre in central Gaza, and of celebrations in Israel at the release of the four captives, reports emerged of alleged US involvement in the operation.
Axios, citing a US administration official, reported that “the US hostage cell in Israel supported the effort to rescue the four hostages.”
Of the operation, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said: “The United States is supporting all efforts to secure the release of hostages still held by Hamas, including American citizens. This includes through ongoing negotiations or other means.”
Some reports claimed that American forces were involved in the operation on the ground, and that the humanitarian aid trucks that were reportedly used to disguise the entry of special forces into Nuseirat departed from the US built humanitarian pier off the Gaza coast.
Mondoweiss has not been able to independently verify some of these reports.
Videos circulating on social media showed the helicopters that were used in the operation to evacuate the Israeli captives taking off from the vicinity of the US pier that was built off the coast of Gaza in order to deliver “much-needed humanitarian aid” to Gaza.
The US$230 million pier, which was completed last month, has drawn significant criticism from rights groups and activists who say the pier is an ineffective way to deliver aid.
According to Axios, citing a U.S. administration official, the American hostages unit in Israel assisted in the release of the four Israeli captives in Gaza.
Footage published by an Israeli occupation soldier confirms Israel’s use of the American temporary pier in central Gaza… pic.twitter.com/GJJp1ZSA7T
Intense criticism
Reported US involvement in the attacks on central Gaza on Saturday, and the alleged use of the pier in the operation, has sparked intense criticism and outrage online.
In response to the reports, Hamas said it proves “once more” that Washington is “complicit and completely involved in the war crimes being perpetrated” in Gaza.
US President Joe Biden has not commented on US involvement in the operation, but in response said: “We won’t stop working until all the hostages come home and a ceasefire is reached. It is essential that it happens.”
Reported by the Mondoweiss Palestine Bureau. Republished under Creative Commons in partnership with Asia Pacific Report.
Israel is not a country, it’s like a fake movie set version of a country. A movie set where the set pieces won’t even stand up on their own, so people are always running around in a constant state of construction trying to prop things up and nail things down. Image: caitlinjohnstone.com.au
COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone
Everything about Israel is fake. It’s a completely synthetic nation created without any regard for the organic sociopolitical movements of the land and its people, slapped rootless atop an ancient pre-existing civilisation with deep roots.
That’s why it cannot exist without being artificially propped up by nonstop propaganda, lobbying, online influence operations, and mass military violence.
Israel is so fake that its far right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir has been stoking religious tensions by encouraging militant Zionists to pray on the Temple Mount — known to Muslims as Al-Aqsa.
This is an illustration of how phony Israel and its political ideology are because Jews were historically prohibited from praying at the Temple Mount under Jewish law; a sign placed there in 1967 and still upheld by Israel’s Chief Rabbinate reads, “According to Torah Law, entering the Temple Mount area is strictly forbidden due to the holiness of the site.”
It’s just this weird, evangelical Christian-like thing that Zionists have started doing in contravention of their own traditions and religious texts to advance their nationalist agendas.
“‘Prayer’ on the Temple Mount is 100% a Zionist invention in total contravention of Jewish law. Jews don’t step foot onto the Temple Mount, let alone ‘pray’ there. That’s why the sign below is posted at the entrance non-Muslims use.
“Ben Gvir publicly announced this in order to provoke a reaction to use as a pretext to restrict and expel Muslims from the site, explode Jerusalem and the West Bank, and expand the regional war.
“Ben Gvir holds Netanyahu hostage. Together, they’re leading Israel to self-destruction.”
“Prayer” on the Temple Mount is 100% a Zionist invention in total contravention of Jewish law. Jews don’t step foot onto the Temple Mount, let alone “pray” there. That’s why the sign below is posted at the entrance non-Muslims use.
There’s no authentic spirituality in such behaviour. It has no roots. No depth. No connection. It’s the product of busy minds with modern agendas, with nothing more to it than that.
Israel is so fake that Zionists artificially resurrected a dead language in order for its people to have a common “native” tongue for them to speak, so that they could all LARP as indigenous Middle Easterners together in their phony, synthetic country.
Israel has no real culture of its own — it’s all a mixture of (A) organic Jewish culture brought in from other parts of the world by the Jewish diaspora, (B) culture that was stolen from Palestinians (see “Israeli food”), and (C) the culture of indoctrinated genocidal hatred that is interwoven with the fabric of modern Zionism.
The way Israel has become a Mecca of electronic dance music points clearly to an aching cultural void that its people are trying desperately to fill with empty synthetic pop fluff.
Even international support for Israel is fake, manufactured astroturf that has to be enforced from the top down, because it would never organically occur to anyone that Israel is something that should be supported.
The phenomenally influential Israel lobby is used to push pro-Israel foreign policy in powerful Western governments like Washington and London. Just this week US Representative Thomas Massie told Tucker Carlson that every Republican in Congress besides himself “has an AIPAC person” assigned to them with whom they are in constant communication, who he describes as functioning “like your babysitter” with regard to lawmaking on the subject of Israel.
Massie:”I’ve Republicans…say: that’s wrong what AIPAC is doing to you…let me talk to my AIPAC person”
The Israel lobby exists with the full consent of the Western imperial war machine and its secretive intelligence cartel, because Western military support for Israel is also phony and fraudulent.
The Western empire whose strategic interests directly benefit from violence and radicalism in the Middle East pretends it is constantly expanding its military presence in the region in order to promote stability and protect an important ally, but in reality this military presence simply allows for greater control over crucial resource-rich territories whose populations would otherwise unite to form a powerful bloc acting in their own interests.
The Israel lobby is a self-funding consent manufacturer which helps the empire do what it already wants to do.
Support for Israel in the media is also phony and imposed from the top down. Since October outlets like The New York Times, CNN and CBC have been finding themselves fighting off scandals due to staff leaks about demands from their executives that they slant their Gaza coverage to benefit the information interests of Israel.
Briahna Joy Gray was just fired by The Hill for being critical of Israel as co-host of the show “Rising”, a fate that all mass media employees understand they will share if they are insufficiently supportive of the empire’s favorite ethnostate.
Israel’s support from celebrities is similarly forced. A newly leaked email from influential Hollywood marketing and branding guru Ashlee Margolis instructs her firm’s employees to “pause on working with any celebrity or influencer or tastemaker posting against Israel.”
As we discussed recently, celebrities are also naturally disincentivised from criticising any aspect of the Western empire by the fact that their status is dependent on wealthy people whose wealth is premised upon the imperial status quo.
After the beginning of the Gaza onslaught Israel spent millions on PR spin via advertising on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook, and The New York Times has just confirmed earlier reports that Israel has been targeting US lawmakers with fake social media accounts to influence their policymaking on Israel.
In truth, nobody really organically supports Israel. If they’re not supporting it because their lobbyists and employers told them to, they’re supporting it because that’s what they were told to support by the leaders of their dopey political ideologies like Zionism, liberalism and conservatism, or by the leaders of their dopey religions like Christian fundamentalism.
It’s always something that’s pushed on people from the top down, rather than arising from within themselves due to their own natural interests and ideals.
Israel is not a country, it’s like a fake movie set version of a country. A movie set where the set pieces won’t even stand up on their own, so people are always running around in a constant state of construction trying to prop things up and nail things down, and scrambling to pick up things that are falling over, and rotating the set pieces so that they look like real buildings in front of the camera.
Without this constant hustle and bustle of propagandising, lobbying, online influence ops, and nonstop mass military violence, the whole movie set would fall over, and people would see all the film crew members and actors and cameras for what they are.
Clearly, no part of this is sustainable. Clearly, something’s going to have to give. Those set pieces are going to come toppling down sooner or later; it’s just a question of when, and of how high the pile of human corpses needs to be before it happens.
"It is no coincidence that the US wants to install [the Palestine Authority] as administrators of a post-war Gaza, as sort of the reservation cops for what is already the world’s biggest outdoor prison and permanent free fire zone for the Israeli military." Image: Visualing Palestine graphic
ANALYSIS: By Murray Horton
The general consensus is that Gaza is this generation’s Vietnam. There are some similarities between the two wars — and a whole lot more differences. But it is true as far as the global protest movement is concerned. Even some of the chants are the same – substitute Biden or Netanyahu for Johnson in “Hey, hey, LBJ. How many kids did you kill today?” (The answer in both cases is an awful lot).
And the putdowns are much the same. If you were a critic of the Vietnam War, you were labelled “anti-American”. Today, if you’re a critic of the Gaza War or Zionism in general, you’re labelled “anti-Semitic”, which is just ludicrous.
I’m old enough to have actively participated in both Vietnam and Gaza demos. There is one conspicuous absence from the latter. In the Vietnam demos it was common for people to chant “Victory to the NLF” (National Liberation Front or the “Viet Cong” to the Western world) and to carry their flag — I have old photos of me as a callow youth with that flag.
But nobody is chanting “victory to Hamas” or carrying its flag. I can only speak from my personal experience of months of Christchurch demos but I have no doubt that if anyone was supporting Hamas at any NZ demo the media would be shouting it from the rooftops.
Why is this? Simply that people want to keep separate their outrage at Israel’s genocide in Gaza from any perception of support for Hamas. There are big differences between Vietnam’s NLF of half a century ago and Hamas today. One was communist and nationalist; the other is Islamist. I distrust all religious fundamentalists, regardless of which religion they are imposing on people.
Murray Horton in his younger protest days in 1969 . . . spokesperson for the Progressive Youth Movement (PYM). Image: canterburystories.nz
The same goes for ideological fundamentalists, so I put the Khmer Rouge in the same bracket as the Taliban (this country has been afflicted by capitalist fundamentalists in government at various times in recent decades, including among the present coalition).
Israel has only got itself to blame for the existence of Hamas. Israel defeated and ruthlessly repressed the previous secular Palestinian armed resistance, the one led by Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), which fitted into the pantheon of global liberation movements of the day. That old guard ended up as Israel’s collaborators, the corrupt and powerless administrators (not rulers) of the Occupied West Bank.
It is no coincidence that the US wants to install them as administrators of a post-war Gaza, as sort of the reservation cops for what is already the world’s biggest outdoor prison and permanent free fire zone for the Israeli military.
The Palestinian people have made clear that they do not want this.
Peace Researcher editor, Anti-Bases Coalition organiser and protester Murray Horton . . . “Israel will not achieve peace by military means – it will have to be a political solution (which has to be more than a ceasefire).” Image: Asia Pacific Report
Israel laughably conflates Hamas with ISIS, which everyone agrees is a terrorist organisation and ideology, with no redeeming features. I guarantee that if Israel does succeed in its murderous mission to exterminate Hamas, it will be replaced by something more extreme, maybe something actually like the ISIS fascists. That would be a very sad day but the Palestinian people are not going to lie down and lick the boots of their oppressors. They will continue to fight back.
The Hamas surprise attack into Israel in October 2023 was an impressive military feat, catching the arrogant and complacent Israeli military and intelligence machine completely off guard. But Hamas definitely committed war crimes by terrorising, murdering and kidnapping Israeli civilians. As for killing and capturing enemy soldiers, that is normal in a war (which Israel and Hamas have been fighting for decades).
Nor are the Israeli settlers innocent bystanders. Throughout history, and up until today, settlers are a common denominator in wars, land theft and dispossession. This applies across the world, including in New Zealand.
Ongoing colonisation of Palestine . . . from David Ben-Gurion (1947) until Benjamin Netanyahu (2024). Image: Visualising Palestine Graphics
Terrorism
Hamas is routinely presented in the West as a terrorist organisation — in 2024 New Zealand has designated it, in its entirety, as one (previously NZ only designated Hamas’ military wing as a terrorist organisation). “Terrorist” is a very subjective term and it depends on who’s telling the story. In wartime it is usual to brand one’s enemy as terrorists. Thus, the Nazis branded the French Resistance as such.
“Our boys” who incinerated huge numbers of German and Japanese civilians in WW2 bombing raids were as much terrorists committing war crimes as were the Nazis who bombed British civilians during the Blitz.
There are politicians in office now whose organisations and parties were previously branded as terrorists — South Africa and Northern Ireland are two examples. Look no further than the history of Palestine itself — when it was part of the British Empire in the 20th Century, Zionist Jews waged a very effective terrorist campaign against their occupiers, featuring bombings and murders.
Hamas doesn’t seem to have thought far beyond that initial surprise attack into Israel in October 2023. Which brings up another similarity with the Vietnam War. In 1968, the NLF and North Vietnam took the US and its South Vietnamese puppets completely by surprise by launching the Tet Offensive right across South Vietnam and right into the grounds of the US Embassy in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City).
At the time, the West judged it to be a military failure, a suicide mission. The same with Hamas’ attack — deemed a suicide mission. But both Tet in 1968 and Hamas in 2023 were looking beyond the purely military. They were both making a political point, issuing a wake-up call, putting their struggle front and centre on the global agenda.
In both cases the impact was seismic. And there are other similarities. Tet finished the Presidency of Lyndon Johnson. 1968 was an election year — he announced that he would not run again.
This year, 2024, is an election year in the US. It remains to be seen what impact Biden’s “ironclad” support of Israel’s genocide has on his re-election. Here is an even stranger coincidence — the 1968 Democrat convention was in Chicago (the protests became a legendary event in the history of the US anti-war movement). The 2024 Democrat convention is also in Chicago, with this generation’s anti-war movement building up a head of steam in advance.
Important differences between the Vietnam and Gaza wars
Vietnam could count on the rock- solid support of its ideological allies, the Soviet Union and China, who armed it and enabled it to have some air defences that could shoot down the US bombers that waged a much more devastating bombardment on Vietnam (and Laos and Cambodia) than anything Israel has unleashed.
Gaza has no friendly next-door neighbours — Vietnam had China, Gaza has Egypt, which regards Hamas as a threat and an enemy. The Arab states sold out the Palestinians decades ago, after they lost several wars to Israel. It was no coincidence that Hamas launched its attack just before Israel was about to announce a normalisation of relations with Saudi Arabia, the most vicious of the regional dictatorships.
Hamas does not even have the support of the Palestinian Authority in the Occupied West Bank, headed by the people who lost the 2006 Palestinian election to Hamas and were subsequently driven out of Gaza by it. So, Hamas is basically on its own, apart from Iran and its allies in the region, such as Hezbollah and the Houthis, but they are all a long way from Gaza.
There are other differences with the Vietnam War. Hamas has no air defences and, although it has done a very good job of protecting its own ranks with tunnels, it has provided no network of air raid shelters for civilians.
It has effectively left its own civilian population defenceless against Israel’s genocide from the sky. And, unlike Vietnam, it seems to have done little or nothing to mobilise those civilians, either for defence or guerrilla war.
A striking feature of the Vietnam War was the military participation of women. Hamas appears to be an all-male military and political movement. Having said that, there is no sign of Hamas having lost popular support in Gaza. There has been no uprising or mass clamour to escape.
Indeed, Hamas has apparently increased in popularity in the Occupied West Bank, which is run by its Palestinian rivals. The reason why is obvious — it is the only organisation offering any kind of effective armed resistance to the Israeli occupation from within.
Ongoing massacres in Palestine . . . from the Nakba (“The Catastrophe”, 1947-8) until Gaza (2023-2024). Image: Visualising Palestine graphics
Murderers, liars, cowards
Which brings me to the other side in this one-sided war. If Hamas is a terrorist organisation, then Israel is a terrorist state. If one has committed atrocities, the other is committing genocide. The keyword here is disproportionality.
Yes, Israel is entitled to defend itself. But so is Palestine, specifically Gaza, which has been used as a real-world testing ground for Israeli weapons and surveillance systems ever since Hamas won that 2006 election.
The West is fed a constant diet of soothing noises about “surgical strikes” and “smart bombs”, which is all just so much bullshit. The world sees that the reality is massive death and destruction. If Israel really was “smart”, then it might have won the allegiance of some of Gaza’s people (there were never going to be cheering crowds throwing flowers onto Israel’s conquering troops).
But, no, it declared that its war was against all Gazans, that they are all the enemy, that they are sub-humans, and it is a war of annihilation. Despite their worst efforts, the Israeli military has still not won (at the time of writing) — whatever “won” means in this context.
Hamas has neither surrendered nor been exterminated. I would say Israel’s methods have guaranteed a fresh supply of Hamas recruits.
Because Israel can count on the unquestioning support of the US, other major Western governments and a supine Western media, it knows it can commit genocide with impunity. Mass murder in broad daylight and in plain sight.
It got such a fright from the successful Hamas attack that it reacted with an all-consuming blood lust, killing everyone in its path in Gaza. It has killed its own hostages, by accident or design; it has murdered record numbers of women and children; civilians; aid workers; health workers; journalists and UN staff.
It has weaponised the withholding of desperately needed humanitarian aid and deliberately induced mass starvation. It has systematically destroyed hospitals, schools, universities, mosques, homes, etc., etc; to make Gaza unliveable for the foreseeable future.
In some cases, it tried to concoct a cover story — “Hamas had a control centre and/or tunnels under this hospital”. It gave up on that because it realised it didn’t have to pretend – it could do anything it liked without consequences, provoking only the feeblest of tut-tutting from its Western allies who bankroll and arm it, to the tune of billions of dollars per year.
So much for “the international rules-based order” that they tiresomely, and lyingly, pontificate about.
It is plainly obvious that the Israeli military are mass murderers. They are also liars — they ordered Gazans to relocate to “safe zones”, which then made them easier to attack and murder. And their chosen method is to murder a defenceless civilian population from the air (a tactic favoured by their American accomplices in their various wars in recent decades).
That’s why I call them cowards.
US is the enabler of genocide
If Israel is the mass murderer, then the US is the enabler of that mass murder, providing vital military support and political cover at places like the UN. Minor US satellites like NZ follow the US lead.
Gaza is certainly not the only war at present, not even the biggest. Until October 2023 the West was fixated on Ukraine, whose war includes old-school features from both World War One (trench warfare) and World War Two (long-range rocket attacks), combined with modern features such as drones and cyber-warfare.
Syria has become yesterday’s story; the war between rival gangs of thugs in Sudan has been forgotten. The West has only ever taken passing interest in the Congo, Africa’s decades-long world war, one in which millions have died.
Gaza is not the only recent example of ethnic cleansing. Just the month before it started, Azerbaijan launched a victorious one-day long lightning strike into the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, resulting in the exit of nearly 100 percent of ethnic Armenians.
This was one of the big stories in world news until Gaza wiped it out of global consciousness.
The world has been fed this myth of “plucky little Israel”, surrounded by enemies. Furthermore, we’ve been told it’s the only democracy in the Middle East. Maybe, but Israeli democracy is only for the occupiers, not the occupied.
It certainly has never accepted the result of the 2006 Palestinian election which brought Hamas to power in Gaza. It has barred international media from Gaza during the war and shut down al Jazeera in Israel.
Zionism: An inherently racist and terrorist ideology
In fact, Israel is a bully, both domestically and regionally. A heavily militarised bully which wages continual war, both internally and regionally. Armed to the teeth and politically sheltered by the US superpower, it recklessly tries to provoke a wider war with Iran in order to draw in the US and its Western allies.
A state governed by Zionism, an inherently racist and terrorist ideology, it is an apartheid state on the same model as the former white-ruled South Africa.
A state currently governed by the extreme Right and headed by a corrupt Prime Minister who is a literal criminal (in addition to being a war criminal), one who is keen to keep the Gaza War going indefinitely in order to postpone his various criminal trials. A lawless state which arms vigilante settlers and lets them rob, starve, terrorise and murder Palestinians with impunity.
Yes, Israel has got a problem neighbour in Hamas. Any country is entitled to defend itself against being regularly attacked by barrages of low-grade rockets. But Irael’s response has always been disproportionate and the most recent response is the most disproportionate of all.
Israel is modelling its response on Sri Lanka, which ended the decades-long separatist war with the Tamil Tigers by finally driving them, and a huge number of civilians, into a corner, then bombarding them all into death and defeat.
But Israel will not achieve peace by military means — it will have to be a political solution (which has to be more than a ceasefire. Korea has had one of those since 1953, and it’s not a good precedent).
Above all, Israel, the US and its fellow accomplices and enablers of genocide have to recognise that old truism: no justice, no peace.
Activist Murray Horton is editor of Peace Researcher, organiser of the Anti-Bases Coalition (ABC), and a contributor to Café Pacific. Republished with permission from Peace Researcher at the Converge website.
